December, 2011

It’s been an eventful week to say the least. Strikeforce Heavyweights are all but done, Overeem went before the NSAC, and Jon Jones choked Machida out cold. Too bad you didn’t ask us any questions about those things. That would have been cool. You did manage to pull some decent questions out of your asses, however, and we’ll take a few moments to address them now.

It may not have been one of the weekend’s fastest knockouts, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t the fanciest. Cairo Rocha took on Fracisco Neves Friday night on the Brazilian Fighting Championship’s “Desafio dos Imortais” card. We don’t know what transpired in the two minutes, twenty five seconds leading up to this strike, but if it’s anything like that kick we’d like to see it.

Yeah, she spent more time on the cage than in it. (Photo: Las Vegas Sun)

Since the late 90′s I’ve seen the same assertion rear its head on MMA email lists, usenet groups, and internet forums from time to time: The best fighter in the world isn’t in the cage or the ring. He’s toiling away in a South American coal mine or defending his land in Sub-Saharan Africa. His legend will never extend beyond the shores of his remote Pacific island and he’ll never be able to prove his abilities to the world. To a certain degree, this must be what life is like for Gilbert Melendez.

Finding out that your company is staying afloat and that your job is secure would normally be terrific news, but despite his admirable towing of the company line, you have to know that “El Niño” was gutted when he realized that Strikeforce wasn’t going anywhere and neither was he. The bright lights, big networks, and top paydays of the UFC will not be his. More importantly, neither is the opportunity to prove himself against the best in the world.

Can you believe it’s been over three months since Strikeforce put on a legit non-Challengers card? The promotion finally gets back to business tonight with two title fights — Gilbert Melendez vs. Jorge Masvidal in the lightweight division and Cris Cyborg vs. Hiroko Yamanaka at women’s featherweight — plus a light-heavyweight bout between Gegard Mousasi and Ovince St. Preux that could produce a contender to the vacant belt.

Round-by-round results from the “Melendez vs. Masvidal” main card broadcast on Showtime will be collecting after the jump beginning at 10:30 p.m. ET, courtesy of CagePotato liveblog rookie Steve Silverman; please do your best to make him feel welcome. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

Actress/fighter Gina Carano is featured in the January 2012 issue of GQ, plugging her movie Haywire, and we’re finding it hard to concentrate on anything else today. Granted, we’ve seen some amazingphotosof thiswoman over the years, but this is some next-level shit right here. Okay, Hollywood, you can have her. It’s for the greater good.

Nakamura went 3-1 in 2011 and comes into the tourney riding a pair of wins over Seiji Akao and Yoshiro Maeda. With his last six fights going the distance, “Iron” seems to have the sort of Fitch-level durability one needs to survive the grueling tournament format.

I don’t know what it is about Slavic nations, but they seem to share a rich appreciation for the musclebound and untalented. We’re assuming that’s how Bob Sapp found himself in Croatia last night competing against Maro Perak on the Noc Gladijatora 6 card.

The bout begins with Sapp standing in the center of the ring in full defensive mode, performing a killer impression of that big, hairy orange thing from Looney Tunes. As soon as he opened up with a punch, Sapp was taken to the canvas where he nearly ended the fight by triangle choke before seamlessly transitioning to an omaplata. Nah, just kidding–he wildly kicked at the air and looked as if he’d never trained from his back before. After absorbing a few punches, hammerfists and knees to the dome (legal, we assume?), the big man decided he’d earned his paycheck and stopped moving until the referee intervened.

Tough loss, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back soon. In fact, I hear there’s an opening in Japan…

Last night Pulver looked to get back on the winning track at regional start-up Resurrection Fighting Alliance against the 6-2-1 Tim Elliott. “Little Eagle Evil” got dropped halfway through the first round, but survived the ensuing torrent of punches which left both men visibly tired. Neither fighter looked recovered from the break as they headed into round two. Elliott backed a weary Pulver against the cage with a combination before reaching for a thai clinch. As Jens shot in, a well-timed knee put him down and out.

Pulver is a grown man and the decision to call it quits belongs to him alone, certainly not to an MMA website, and certainly not to a moderately irresponsible one. That being said, when you see an aging fighter get laid out like that and then see him admit that he didn’t train seriously for the fight, you’ve got to question his decision making ability.

After the jump, a beautiful 26-second head kick KO from last night’s event.